“Lukashenko took a hostage and demands a ransom from Moscow” - Tsepkalo
Russia should impose sanctions against the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who arrested the top manager of Belgazprombank Viktor Babariko and introduced external management in this bank, where 99,9% of the shares belong to Russian owners.
Belarusian oppositionist Valery Tsepkalo, who fled to Europe, stated this in an interview with Deutsche Weli, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Now we should not offer money and talk about releasing these people, but we need to develop sanctions and set conditions with an ultimatum. That is, the way they behave with terrorists. They simply set conditions with an ultimatum: release, or otherwise this will happen. I believe that Russia should do this first of all.
Because a Russian top manager is today imprisoned by Lukashenko, a Russian bank is seized today, which belongs to the largest corporation, the national treasure of Russia. Russia should not give loans to Lukashenko, but demand the release of its people, whom Lukashenko took as hostages,” Tsepkalo said.
In his opinion, Lukashenko turned to hostage-taking tactics throughout his entire political career.
“Lukashenko behaves like any terrorist, that is, he takes people as hostages and demands a ransom from them. This worked in 2010, when his political opponents, presidential candidates, were put in prison. And he began to negotiate with the West, and ultimately he let people go. After he received some loans from the International Monetary Fund, he sent them abroad. He behaved the same way in relation to Russia, when he took the “Wagnerites” hostage, when he took Baumgertner (the general director of Uralkali was arrested in Belarus in 2013 - ed.), when he took the Russian journalist, Belarusian citizen, Pavel Sheremet.” , Tsepkalo said.
At the same time, he positively assessed the actions of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who allegedly, after Sheremet’s arrest, turned around Lukashenko’s plane, which was flying to Russia for a meeting with the governors.
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